On the way to answering why HBO can’t be like Netflix, at least right now, I gave a little history about broadcast network television in the US. When we left off, there were three networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — and HBO, plus a bunch of TV stations not affiliated with the networks.

“Why can’t HBO be like Netflix?” That is the question a friend asked me the other day. She was annoyed that she couldn’t subscribe to HBO without having a cable subscription. I started to explain it to her but it got very complicated and the more I spoke and thought about it the more I realized I couldn’t answer it easily.

The topic of television and Netflix and HBO and streaming and broadcast and cable and so on is all very complicated. I decided maybe its better to start from the (sort of) beginning and go from there.

Like this:

There are a number of previews of the new season of Game of Thrones airing now, and there is a quote in one or more of them that is one of my favorite quotes from the books.

I will hurt you for this. I don’t know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you’ll know the debt is paid.

This quote has been on my mind because of my excitement for the return of Game of Thrones, and I was reminded of it watching “The Toll”. Daryl Crowe turns himself in and gets his nephew Kendal to take the rap for shooting Art. Raylan wants to kill Daryl but says that he won’t, and that instead he will ruin Daryl’s life. One day joy will turn to ashes in Daryl’s mouth.

Like this:

Elizabeth and Philip Jennings don’t exist. The woman and man who go by those names were both born and raised in Russia. They adopted the personae of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings to live in undercover in the US.

Elizabeth and Philip Jennings exist. They work together at a travel agency and both take active an active role in raising their two children.

All of the above is true, which is part of the reason that The Americans is so interesting. What makes an episode like “A Little Night Music” so interesting is that it’s not just the Jennings who are leading dual lives.

Although I watch The Good Wife, I don’t usually write about it because it’s on network television, which means that there are a lot of episodes and I am not suited to keep up that type of pace. Basic and premium cable series with their shorter seasons are much more comfortable for me.

However, as you may have heard, something big happened in The Good Wife last Sunday. If you don’t know what it is or, more importantly, if you don’t want to know what it is, then stop reading.

The new season of Game of Thrones is here. Yes, you should be watching the show. No, you should not start with Season Four. If you haven’t been watching then go watch the first three seasons and then come back here for links to recaps from various TV critics for Season One, Season Two and Season Three.

If you’ve watched the first three seasons then come here for the recaps for Season Four.

If you read my pre-launch post about the new FiveThirtyEight then you know that I was interested in seeing what Nate Silver and his team came up with. I can’t say that I was a regular visitor to the old site other than in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election but I did check in periodically to see what was going on. (The New York Times paywall may have had something to do with this.) Silver launched his new site a week ago, which means it’s time to assess how it’s doing.